Bank Holiday update - beans a plenty?

Around about the late May bank holiday is usually the earliest I would consider to plant out my tender crops. This year we had typical bank holiday weather - three days of grey, cold, cloudy weather with a strong easterly wind more reminiscent of March than late May. Not the ideal weather to plant out beans, courgettes and pumpkins, which were basking in the relative shelter of my plastic greenhouse, but something had to give. Being incredibly busy with work, my visits to the allotment are currently of the fleeting variety, so when a free hour or so became available yesterday afternoon, I had to make use of the time. It was the beans - Polestar, Borlotti, Cobra & Purple Teepee - which went in, probably much to their annoyance, but they were far too large for the greenhouse anyway and some had started to wrap around each other, as climbing beans without anything to climb up tend to do.

I choose to grow mine up wigwams of 5 canes, basically because it makes best use of the space available and also because, unlike many fellow plot holders, I see no need for a 10m double row of runner beans. 5 plants of each type are more than sufficient for us and a few friends and neighbours - after all, there's only so many runner beans you can eat! Also, as I don't have a permanent, dedicated bean trench, I can move my five canes to a space in any bed to fit around my other crop rotations. It is flexible and works for me.

So in they went, with some chicken manure pellets for company and some soft twine to encourage them to climb the canes in the face of a force 8 gale. They were well watered in, although I needn't have bothered as it has rained here ever since! I'll check on them at the weekend, when if it's mild and benign, I might consider putting in a few tomatoes and courgettes. The cucumbers will have to wait at least another couple of weeks as they still look too fragile.

The Darling Buds of May

It's amazing what plenty of rain followed by some warm, sunny weather can do. After a cool early spring, trees, shrubs and hedges are now wearing their bright new green leaves and everywhere is bursting with life.

At the plot, after a frantic few weeks, all the seeds for this year have now been sown, most have germinated, and a hardy few are taking advantage of the current sunny and warm weather.

I have, in no particular order:

Tomatoes - Sungold F1, Gardener's Delight, Golden Sunrise, Alicante.
Chilli - Cayenne Pepper
Cucmbers - Burpless Tasty Green and Crystal Apple.
Courgettes - Kojak F1 and One Ball F1
Squashes and Pumpkins - Cobnut, Mammoth, Gold Nugget, Baby Bear, Jack O' Lantern.
Beans - Cobra, Barlotti 'Lingua di Fuoco', Polestar, Purple Teepee.

The last to emerge will be the Sweetcorn Honey Bantam F1, which currently reside on my window sill in their toilet roll tubes - they only went in last night!

Thanks to a recent decking job I have finished off the last of the raised beds at the allotment. I hope to be down there this weekend to cull the dandelions and get on top of the profusion of weeds before the above plants go in after the late May bank holiday. I plan to take a few pictures and upload them to the blog as I am proud of my efforts this year and there are some lovely sights. 'Best of plot' at the moment must be the fruit trees - the bramley and the morello cherry are full of blossom and the bees are busily working away on the flowers. I anticipate a great crop this year, provided there are no late frosts and I can net the cherries before the blackbird gets them.

We've also picked the first two crops of asparagus - enormous fat spears - and steamed them only an hour or so after picking. They tasted great, but it does make your wee smell funny :-)

Finally, before signing off, a word of warning for anyone who might be tempted to tackle nettles with a strimmer. Make sure your skin is completely covered before trying this. Nettles may sting when you touch them, but boy does it hurt when you are showered with tiny fragments of nettle being blasted by a strimmer. Ouch!